


...Attempting to Travel South?

by CheyanneChika



Series: Adventures of the Bilbo Baggins, Immortal Hobbit [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Cliffhangers, Gen, Where In Middle-Earth Is Gandalf?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-21 23:57:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6062970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheyanneChika/pseuds/CheyanneChika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo is following his feet and not the map.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not Off to a Great Start

“This is probably the least pleasant I’ve felt in this place.”  Bilbo had been on the road, by himself for three days now.  He’d left the home he’d made with Frodo and the elves six days before that but the Fair Folk had left him at the border of the Valinor.  Elves as a whole were not a curious lot and High Elves even less so.  Thus, they had only exacted their maps where necessary and stayed well away from Valmar, which was in the opposite direction from the one on which the hobbit had been led.  He suspected he’d taken a wrong turn somewhere because south of Valinor was supposed to be prairie and eventually pastures, not forest.  Still, when in doubt, follow your feet.  So, into the forest he went.

This place was green and cool like the rest of the Undying Lands but the forest air was thick instead of fresh.  This was a place the elves had clearly never wandered, despite the fact that it reminded him blatantly of Mirkwood.  He was glad to have Sting by his side once more.  Frodo had brought it with in hopes of keeping Bilbo cheerful and telling stories when he himself was miserable but it had done more than that.  He had gripped the pommel and felt youth flow through his fingertips.  That had been the first time he noticed he was getting younger, day by day.

Back in the present, he was feeling damp and hungry had taken to talking to himself like a crazy hobbit.  The elves promised that there had never been any deadly creatures in this forest, but he’d rather scare off anything that might think he’d make a tasty treat, like a bear rather than a troll.  When he stepped in something that was definitely not meant to be stepped in, he cursed loudly in Dwarvish and Elvish and spent a span hunting for the little stream that hit the end of the elves’ rather simple map and he’d been making note of whenever he saw it as he walked.  His foot squished grossly until he reached it and plunged it into the swift water. 

“Can’t hurt,” he muttered to himself and plunked onto the bank so he could dunk the other foot in.  He started to whistle, only to stop when a whisper seemed to run through the trees around him.  He paused, listened and, hearing nothing more, started again.

The whisper joined him.  This time, when he stopped, the whisper carried a few more notes of the old tune.  “Who’s there?” he called out.  This time, the whispers did not stop.  They wrapped around him somehow feeling warm and motherly, which stunned the hobbit.  He closed his eyes and listened.  The whispers made no sense to him but he waited, hoping.  When nothing happened but his feet becoming steadily colder, he sighed and opened his eyes.

He yelped and fell over.


	2. Frodo Plans to Clean

Frodo sat and debated on Bilbo’s front stoop for near an hour on the pros and cons of the decision he was about to make.  Initially, he’d hesitated to go with Uncle Bilbo on his new adventure because his chest still ached, even here, and he was afraid to leave Valinor and the elves who could ease his pain.  He was also nervous of this much younger version of his uncle.  This was the hobbit of legend.  Bilbo the Burglar.  Bilbo, who held his own against a Smaug and Gollum and Thorin Oakenshield.  The hobbit he’d told stories of to Sam’s children.

And even though, as a child, he’d long to go adventuring with Bilbo, now was different.  He’d gone on his adventure and it had nearly destroyed him.  Realistically, he was not suited to adventure.  He’d craved it to be like his uncle, not because he thought himself able to bandy words with legends and cross the endless lands between the Shire and Mordor.

So he said no when Bilbo asked.  He said he’d look after Bilbo’s hobbit hole and wait for him to bring back new stories.  So here he was, about to go into his uncle’s home to do a bit of light dusting and water the plants and wishing he’d swallowed his fears and just gone with.  He sighed and pushed himself to his feet and turned to open the door. 

The inside looked like a small army of messy dwarves had come on gone.  Papers, clothes, linens and the insides of a weapons polishing kit were strewn about and on every available surface, including the floor.

“Oh dear,” Frodo murmured.  So much for light dusting.  He’d be here all day and well into the evening.  He’d been lonely these past four days and had intended to venture the few miles’ walk to one of the homely houses for dinner and stories.

Stepping gingerly over an obscenely long rapier than Frodo suspected was from the elves’ armory and not supposed to be here, he made his way to the dining room.  On the wooden table, there was a cleared space that contained only an envelope with Frodo’s name on it in Bilbo’s most elegant script.  Frodo frowned and opened it.

_My dearest Frodo,_

_It pains me that you will not come on this adventure with me, though I understand why.  I feel like I need to do this, need to go, need to be doing, well, I’m not sure what.  I think there is something pulling me in a direction I do not yet comprehend.  Gandalf may be the one to lead me there or the quest to find him will._

_I need you to know that I’m not doing this to get away from you or the elves.  I would spend all my time in the company of elves if they’d not grow weary of me.  This trip has no bearing on how I feel about you either.  I will return as soon as I am able and I will miss you every day._

_The elves are taking me to the east, then south to avoid the mountains and, from there, I’ll continue on.  Whether I find what I’m looking for there or trip over Gandalf halfway through the Pastures of Yavanna, I will be back.  Stay happy and out of trouble don’t do anything I wouldn’t._

_Your loving uncle,_

_Bilbo_

Frodo set the note down and stared at nothing for a long time.

He tripped over the sword when he ran all the way back to his hobbit hole to pack a bag.


End file.
